Category: Music Diary

When I was a kid, learning guitar meant finding a local teacher and getting weekly lessons – which is still the most popular method. More recently you can buy DVDs and watch YouTube instructions to help you along. And now Apollo-M introduces subscription music instruction which they describe as ‘Netflix for music learning’, giving you a la carte lesson access!

At the top of my ‘criticism of Android’ list for literally four years now is the abysmal audio support, leading Android music apps to be at best toys while iOS supports full studio production and mastering tools. Android isn’t there yet, but Samsung has led with audio support and IK Multimedia is taking full advantage with AmpliTube and iRig HD-A!

It didn’t really occur to me when I reviewed Levin-Minnemann-Rudess, but Marco Minnemann was the brilliant drummer behind Trey Gunn’s Modulator – both of which are important for this review. Now he is back with ‘Eeps’, a solo effort in the truest sense of the term – playing all of the instruments and writing the songs, he delivers a breathtaking …

IK Multimedia has their hands in all areas of music creation technology, so it is no surprise that they have now announced iRig Pads, a portable groove controller for iOS, Mac and PC. iRig Pads offers full MIDI controller capability so it can be used with a variety of apps, and is now shipping for $149.99!

Back in June I reviewed iRig Voice, which is a great fun microphone for amateurs with a solid feature set and a great price. Now they have released the iRig Mic HD, which steps up the features and sound quality and is more suited to budget-minded professionals and those seeking to make professional-sounding recordings. From IK Multimedia: iRig Mic HD …

You’ve seen all the different variations and spoofs of “Let It Go” by Idina Menzel from Frozen, Disney’s animated film remake of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen story. Now it’s your turn to perform, record, and share your musical performance of the nine original featured songs in the Disney Karaoke: Frozen app on iPad.

I reviewed the iKlip Stand for iPad and iPad Mini last year, and found them to be excellent solutions for the music studio. But then something happened – the iPad Air and iPad Mini Retina arrived and neither fit into the original stands. Oh well, that is just the way it works with accessories, right? Not anymore with iKlip Xpand!

My family loves to sing along with songs – it doesn’t matter if we hit the notes, we have fun. Our boys both sing in the high school choir and drama department, so they also like to sing along with songs they need to learn. iRig Voice lets them sing along, record, and have fun with all kinds of songs!

Last month Carly noted some of the reasons that Prime Music as rumored – limited selection, older titles – made sense in the context of the other Prime offerings. Well, overnight Amazon introduced Prime with access to a million songs and hundreds of curated playlists. The depth and breadth are limited, but it provides a decent entry point.

The first time I wrote about Marco Minnemann was in the context of Trey Gunn composing against a 52-minute drum solo by Minnemann in 2010. Then last year Minnemann was back as part of the Levin-Minnemann-Rudess trio, producing an incredible collection of music with appeal across jazz fusion, experimental and metal genres. Now he returns with a solo recording ‘EEPS’!

In school systems across the country, arts programs are under budget attack – easy fodder in a system that is loaded with required functions and more attractive programs. Some schools still manage to provide arts education, and more efforts are being made to find alternative resources to fund these critical programs. The latest is Humble “Music in Schools” Bundle.

Every year at CES and NAMM IK Multimedia presents a bunch of great new technology for music and media aimed largely at the consumer electronics market. This year was no exception, and now we have gotten word from IK multimedia that the iRing music motion controller is shipping! We will have a review soon, but here are some details.

Manchester Orchestra is currently on tour to support their fourth studio album, Cope, which is described by lead singer Andy Hull as being ‘brutal’, ‘pounding’, and ‘unapologetically heavy’. That was a fair summation of their April 22nd show at Emo’s, which started strong and wrapped up perfectly.

Manchester Orchestra‘s album COPE will be out on April 1st, and their tour starts March 27; We’ve already got tickets for the Austin show (April 22nd), and now all that’s left is to enjoy their new album. While it’s not out for download yet, it is available for streaming via YouTube.

rePLAY: Symphony of Heroes premieres in North America with a unique video game music concert series, executive produced by Jason Michael Paul. Specially chosen video game musical scores combine with professional theatrics, visuals and orchestral arrangements in this upcoming tour.The first show will take place at St. Petersburg’s Mahaffey Theater on April 19.

For the true fan of music, genre doesn’t matter in appreciation of an iconic and legendary artist or group. This is true for Miles Davis, Beethoven, Michael Jackson, or the Allman Brothers Band. Alan Paul’s new book One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band seeks to illuminate their history for new and old fans alike!

If you ask anyone involved with electronic music during the digital age to name an instrument – it would be the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer drum machine. The sounds appear on countless songs from the last 30+ years, and vintage systems sell for steep prices. Now Roland is back with the Aira line that is both classic and modern.

Raoul Björkenheim is one of those artists who has been around for years, but has not seen the recognition he deserves. I first heard of him through work with Bill Laswell a few years back, and more recently with Scorch trio. Now he is back with his group ‘eCsTaSy’, and the results are powerful and engaging.

So … did you watch the Grammy Awards? My family watched most, and with expectations set suitably low it was not a bad time. Spirited performances by Kendrik Lamar and Imagine Dragons easily offset the awful Katy Perry vocals, bland Taylor Swift showing, and plainly lip-syncing Pink. But the real question is … how did Spotify do predicting winners?

This weekend the Grammy Awards present the music side of insular industry self-celebration and back-patting. Trying to figure out who wins in the post-Esperanza Spalding years is as much about who the industry needs to ‘reward’ as anything else. But the folks at Spotify have used data gleaned from their streaming service over the last year to make predictions!

If you were to ask my younger son about his most elusive piece of affordable technology, it would be the M-Audio Trigger Finger from 2005. The popular controller was used by all of his favorite music producers but was discontinued. Now it is back and better than ever with the M-Audio Trigger Finger Pro announced at NAMM 2014! Here is …